Hello,
On 23 July 1942, RAF Fighter Command carried out a Mass Rhubarb on the northern coast of Brittany. Spitfires from 310 Sqdn claimed a Ju 88 destroyed on the ground at Lannion, but 4 Spitfires of 234 Sqdn were lost to Fw 190s in the Landerneau - Lesneven - Guissény area and 2 Whirlwinds of 263 Sqdn were shot down by Bf 109s in the sea off Morlaix (these were two different combats). Looking at the German side, I have two questions.
The easy one (I hope!) first. Does someone know the identity of the Ju 88 set on fire at Lannion?
The more difficult question now. Who shot down the two Whirlwinds?
First of all, I have not been able to identify a Bf 109 unit that may have operated over Brittany at this period.
Tony Wood lists three LW claims on this day:
Hptm. Rudolf Pflanz 1./JG 2 Spitfire Reference: JG 2 NLRF Letter
Hptm. Rudolf Pflanz 1./JG 2 Spitfire Reference: JG 2 NLRF Letter
Fw. Georg Hippel 8./JG 2 Spitfire Reference: JG 2 NLRF Letter
Fw Hippel flying from Brest on a 8./JG 2 Fw 190 is most probably responsible for one of the 234 Sqdn Spitfires (another one - P/O Thalbitzer - was reported downed by Flak).
Hptm Pflanz may have flown a Bf 109, but he was with I./JG 2 that was normally operating over Normandy (quite far from the Rhubarb area). On the other hand, there are no other RAF losses that match his claims.
So was Rudy Pflanz over Brittany on that day and was he engaged against 234 or 263 Sqdn? While the two missing Spitfires may have been destroyed by Flak or in a collision, the Whirlwinds were shot down by German fighters and it is difficult to misidentify Whirlwinds for Spitfires.
Best regards,
Jérémie